Miquel Serra-Grana
Miquel Serra-Grana (10 May 1897 - 12 May 1934) was a Brunanter-Barzuna musician and singer. He is considered a master of the Jitanès and the founded of Jazz-Jitanès. Biography Personal life Serra-Grana was born in Niesburg around 1897; other sources list him as having been born outside Barcelona, and there are records to show that a Miguel (Miquel) Serra, aged five, immigrated to Brunant in 1903. Serra married dancer Josephine Graf in 1923 and they had a son, Raymond, in 1925. They did not have a happy marriage, as Serra was busy touring and they spent little time together. Graf would remarry in the late 1930s. Music career Serra began playing the guitar in his youth and took up the accordion around the age of 16. Serra performed in several bars in Niesburg and Carrington. He gave a concert on March 20, 1921 which was the talk of the Brunanter arts community that year. He was invited to perform at the National Theater later that year and his career quickly took off after signing with Alix. He began touring Brunant and in 1925 was doing shows in Spain and Italy. He recorded two records with Grand Prijs in 1924, both guitar instrumentals. In 1927 he released records with Victor (later RCA Victor) and it gained him global success. His first Victor release was "Primaviera na Ginebra". He became the first Brunanter musician to be known worldwide and he did an extensive tour of Europe in 1929. He recorded several jazz songs for Victor in New York in 1931, his only recordings that did not involve Jitanès sounds. From concerts in Paris and France in 1933, Serra-Grana made contact with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and upon returning to Brunant, began composing and playing Jazz-Jitanès music, a further advancement on the recent genre. His first jazz recording, a Jitanès-inspired "Tiger Rag", was recorded in March 1934, but did not sell well upon release. Several other songs would be recorded but not released initially; upon his death "Daphne", Dance Caroline", "Eus Vells Barzunos" were released among seven jazz records which would prove much more successful. In 1934 he gave a tour of Eastern United States and Cuba, which would be his last performance. Death and legacy After giving a concert in Havana, Cuba in August 1934, he sailed to the United States on the SS Morro Castle in order to return to Brunant. Setting sail on 5 September they were off the coast of New Jersey by the 8th when disaster struck. A fire broke through the ship and 140 people died; Serra was among the dead that day. Serra has become one of the most famous Brunanter musicians of all time. His music is still played today and artists like Jospier Ricard, Anais Gul Pozo and Jitana Electrica have all been influenced by him. In 1957, he was posthumously awarded the Medal for Arts and Letters. Since the 1960s there have been a variety of compilation albums made of his work, but due to the differing copyright ownership none include both his early and later work. Music style Serra was originally a traditional Jitanès musician, playing the accordion, guitar and singing. By the mid 1920s he became a leader in the development of Jazz-Jitanès, a combination of American Jazz with Jitanès music and instruments. Discography Songs Songs marked by an asterisk were recorded for Alix, and a cross recorded for Grand Prijs. Selected compilations *''Vol. 1'' (1952) *''Miquel Serra-Grana: 1926'' (1960) *''Serra-Grana's Early Hits'' (1971) *''Jazz in the 30s'' (2008) Category:Medal for Arts and Letters recipients Category:Barzuna people Category:1897 births Category:Dead people Category:Musicians Category:Barzuna music Category:Stereophone Records